I know. I know. It’s been a while. A full week now as I look back. Thank you for your emails and your phone calls. All four of you. Since Virgil Fry was scheduled to preach yesterday and present the vision for Lifeline Chaplaincy’s Tarrant County mission to our Legacy family, I seized the opportunity to take one of my vacation weeks. And, no, I wasn’t on the beach somewhere in South Texas or in the mountains of Colorado as some of you have suggested. I spent the week painting the exterior of our house. Six days of hanging off a ladder, 24 feet up, with a paintbrush in my hand. I couldn’t be happier to be back in the study today.
Today’s been filled with a ton of catching up. So allow me to just post a bunch of pictures, give you a couple of quick-hit updates, and resume the full-time blogging tomorrow. As always, click on the pic for the full size. Except the one of all the tongues near the bottom. Gross.
Since last we blogged, I’ve performed my first ever wedding ceremony, joining Jim & Elvera (Long) McKillip in holy matrimony. And it was so low-stress for me. They have 120 years of marriage experience between them. And they 
couldn’t have cared less about the ceremony itself. It was absolutely a piece of cake for me. They told me to write the whole thing and just show up and do it. No rehearsel dinner. No pre-marital counseling. I asked them if they wanted to at least write the vows and Jim said, “Why don’t you write them and email them to me.” Great wedding. We ate barbecue and peach cobbler at the reception. Whitney, Valerie, and Carley: I hope you’re taking notes.
We were also duped and deceived into attending a PTA meeting. You know how these schools do it. They say your fifth grader is performing in a concert or a play at 7:00 Thursday night when, in actuality, the PTA meeting starts at 7:00 and your fifth grader performs at 8:00. But you don’t realize it until the gavel bangs at 7:01. After they elected next year’s Green Valley Elementary PTA Officers (I almost nominated Whitney for Third Vice-President of Recruiting) Valerie and her class wowed us with their rendition of “We Go Together” from Grease. I hate it when movies I watched as a kid are presented as “classics.” Carrie-Anne’s mom made the poodle skirt. Way to go, Gram!
Now, about those Stars! I keep having flashbacks to ’99. The Stars keep winning and they keep advancing and we’re so surprised. How do they keep winning? Nobody was really expecting this. They’re playing so well right now. Modano looks like he’s 27 instead of 37. And they’re dominating the 3rd periods. If you’re playing the Stars and you’re not up by two or three goals heading to the third period, you’re going to get beat. Last night’s whipping of San Jose puts the Stars up two games to none in the second round, the second time now Dallas has taken the first two games of a series on the road. That’s only happened four other times in NHL 
history. And all four times, the team that’s started 2-0 twice on the road has made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.
And then there are the Mavericks. Yuk. The Jason Kidd trade, made out of desperation almost two months ago, is killing them. He can’t score like Devin Harris. He can’t defend like Harris. And he can’t block shots like Diop. Man, they’re missing Harris and Diop. More than that, though, they’re missing Josh Howard. So far in the four games against New Orleans, Howard is averaging only 12.8 points per game on just 25% shooting and 6.5 rebounds. Yuk. And while Mavericks fans probably have huge issues right now with everything from the Kidd trade and Avery’s coaching to the ManiAACs shirts and Laura Green’s hair, my biggest issue—an insurmountable issue for me—is with Josh Howard. And I’m facing a serious dilemma right now in my own house over it. I’ll have to share all this tomorrow and maybe even solicit your opinions and advice.
They’re finally putting the steel roof on our new worship center here at Legacy. The north side was finished Saturday and they’re working on the south side today. By this time tomorrow, I think, everything will be dried in and they can start really working on the inside. The air-conditioners and duct work are in, the rock at the front of the worship center above and around the stage is set and a lot of the interior walls are taped and bedded. I’m still hopeful this can all be done and we can be in the new building by our next 5th Sunday on June 29.
I also want to share with you this picture of Matt and his daughter, Elizabeth, in our living room last night during our Small Groups Church meeting. She’s reading from Romans 15 and I can’t resist the picture. Passing on the faith in our homes. Our children singing with us and reading with us and watching their parents and other adults worship and study and pray. I love the picture and the way it symbolizes one of the key things Legacy Small Groups Church is about. Apply the Word, Connect as a Family, and Evangelize the Community. And do it together.
After last night’s Small Groups meetings I/we hosted a come-and-go ice cream deal to celebrate Carrie-Anne’s 40th birthday. It was a surprise right up until the moment I walked in the door with six half-gallons of Blue Bell. The jig was up. And she knew something was going on. But she wasn’t quite sure what. By the time it was over, we must have had close to a hundred people, mostly from Legacy, through the doors with well wishes and tacky birthday cards. It was a fantastic night with great family and friends. These pictures are of the friends we couldn’t quite run off.
No comment. Thank you, Tonia, for the pics.
And thank you to everyone who came last night. We are so blessed to have made such great friends in such a short amount of time. We love each of you very much. We especially love Jean for washing spoons, Beth for leading us in a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” in Portuguese, and Kevin for taking out the trash. And Jill for waiting until they got in the car to ask Kevin why he never does that at home.
Carrie-Anne, I love you. You are the perfect partner. I love you forever.
Allan
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